The World Has Fallen
by ItsMyIceCream428
Summary: The world has fallen. The reign of humanity has come to an end. There was chaos everywhere. Now there's barely a human to be seen. All because of that virus. Join Mitch, Jerome, and Ashley as they journey across what was once the United States to what could be their safe haven. Rated T but subject to change.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The world has fallen.

The reign of humanity has come to an end.

There was chaos everywhere.

Now there's barely a human to be seen.

All because of that virus.

It managed to infect us, weaving its way into people across the globe - an unseen killer. The some doctor in another country found it. It was named XZ-01.

Then the killer brought its weapons out. And it unleashed them onto us.

I remember the agony of the virus messing with my organs, the feeling of being hot and cold, the breaths I could barely take - it was like hell. An experience shared by every one of Earth's 7 billion people.

Then the deaths came. Hundreds of thousands of people dying worldwide per day. Governments all over the world - from major powers like the countries in G8 - France, Russia, Canada, Japan, Germany, the US, the UK and Italy - to the poorest, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Afghanistan - were searching tirelessly for a cure. It was all that was on their minds. But the virus took people, day after day. Days faded into weeks, which faded into months, which became years. Finally, after 5 years, a cure was found. It was deployed worldwide, and millions of people were saved.

But millions more died first. There were barely any humans left alive. Every government had fallen. It was total anarchy. Oh, yes, buildings still stand, but it would be safer to scavenge the woods. There's nothing left in stores anyways. Maybe a bite of bread if you were lucky. And it wasn't like you could trust anyone. People are murdered by others for supplies. It wasn't like it was illegal. I mean, there's anarchy everywhere, right?

Our lives became games. Games of survival. The object of the game was to reach Spain. Rumor had it that there was an escape route in the old state of New York. There was an operation that sent boats to a bunker there. My destination.

My name is Mitchell Hughes. I am one of 100 million people left on Earth.

**A/N This was an idea I had while playing Plague Inc. last night. (Finally got Parasite! It may have taken me 2247 days to beat Fungus BUT I STILL GOT IT!) I always act pretty creepy when I know I will win. It's rather sadistic, actually. Anyways, I thought this would be interesting to write from the victims' point of view, since in Plague Inc. you're always the killer. Of course, I chose Team Crafted 'cause I love them to death (in a fangirl way), or at least Mitch and Jerome. And then there's Ashley. In my opinion, Mitch and Ashley would make a great couple! #AshleyCanadian? #BajanMarieeGaming? I don't know. Anyways, review, follow, etc, appreciated. Hate is not wanted, but constructive criticism is fine. I'm ItsMyIceCream428, and I will speak to ya soon!  
**

**~ItsMyIceCream428~**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_**(Mitch's POV)**_

I trudge back to the little makeshift camp Jerome, Ashley and I made. It's not much, but it's like our safe haven. Until we reach Spain. It's simply a rope with an old, dirty tarp over it. Better than nothing in these times. Lugging my treasure with the little strength I had, I duck under the tarp to find my two friends sitting there silently, whispering. They immediately stop when I enter and eye what I brought with curiosity.

"What d'you have there?" Jerome asked. "Food?"

"Even better than just food," I reply, grinning. I reveal my finds to them fully. "There's an abandoned store nearby. I looted some of the food from it."

"Seriously?!" They both jump up, Ashley wincing in pain. She had managed to scrape her side pretty badly when she tripped over a root a few days ago. You could see the dried blood under her wrinkled shirt.

"Yeah! Look, fruits, bread, ooh, candy... what a jackpot," I sigh happily.

"We'll be going to sleep happy tonight, huh?" said Ashley. You could still hear traces of her British accent.

"For the first time since the plague..." My voice trails off just as I realize what I'm about to say. The damn virus was why we were out here, three young adults that were thin as twigs and had barely any strength to walk a few meters. Jerome and Ashley's expressions grow dark.

"All our friends and family, may they rest in peace..." Jerome murmured. It was still a shock to think almost everyone we knew - Adam, Jason, Ty, Ian, Quentin, Mat, Rob, Preston, Lachlan, and all our other friends - were dead yet we had been saved from the plague.

"We were this close to getting the cure for Rob," I snap in anger, holding up my fingers for emphasis. "_This fucking close."_

_**~Flashback~**_

I got the cure. I was okay. It was gone. I was going to live. I look down at the extra pill in my hand. I knew one person who needed it. Racing down the hall, I stop in front of a door marked '385'.

Rob's room.

I burst in. Rob's emaciated body lies in the bed, and he's gasping for breath. The room smells of vomit and blood - the stains around his mouth seem to be the culprits.

"Rob! Look, I have the cure! You're gonna be okay. Here, just swallow it," I say in a rush of words.

"Mitch..." he gasps, his pupils dilated. His breaths are more shallow and they're quickening. I quickly feed him the pill. As soon as he gulps it down, though, he vomits in a horrific mass of blood. The dark red substance stains the bedsheets and my shirt. I hardly even notice. Rob's eyes are wide, and his mouth is just a little "O".

"I'm... a goner..." he whispers. I barely catch it before he slumps on the bed, dead.

"No... Rob... SO FUCKING CLOSE!" I scream. He was so close! Why?_ Why?!_

_**~End of Flashback~**_

"Mitch, it's not your fault. The virus had been there for so long, it probably would've killed him anyways," Ashley said, trying to comfort. I realize I'm on the ground, head between my knees.

"Yeah, but still..." I mutter.

There's an moment of silence, no one sure about what they want to say.

"We should get going, shouldn't we?" Jerome suggests. "We should get as far as we can before nightfall. Aren't we near the old Utah-Colorado border?" **(A/N Utah does share a border with Colorado…right? I don't know.)**

I sigh. "Yeah. Let's start walking." We gather our few belongings and take down the tent, preparing for another few hours of fatigue in the dense forest.

**A/N So I am officially taking TWHF off hiatus! Woot! Summer's coming up, which means I'll have more time on my hands to write. Sorry for the short chapter, I promise they will get longer. I'm ItsMyIceCream428, and I will speak to ya soon!**

**~ItsMyIceCream428~**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**(Still Mitch's POV)**_

After a few hours of walking, we find ourselves at the old Utah-Colorado border. A rusted, faded sign reads, "Welcome to Colorado, the Centennial State". You could see the old police station where people got stopped when they crossed the border illegally. I guess like us, but there's no goddamn government, so who cared?

"Camp... here?" Jerome said, wheezing. The sky has finally turned a navy blue. The long walk had taken its toll on each of us. Ashley looked like she was going to collapse and I could barely stand up.

"Yeah," I manage to reply. "I'll take... first watch." We had a somewhat organized guard schedule. Whenever the current guard was sleepy, he or she would wake up another person to swap places. It just continues like that the entire time.

"Okay. Well... good night," mumbles Ashley.

"Good night..." Jerome's sentence trails off as he collapses on the dirt, Ashley following suit. I sigh and seat myself in front of a tree trunk. I stare up at the dark night sky. Wow, you can actually see the stars! You never could back in LA. Oh. LA. My head droops and I stare at the ground. I guess we were never going to see it again. Well, there's not much left. I swear, we were the only people left alive. All the empty houses, the lack of electricity lighting up the place, the dead silence - did you really think there would be others? I sigh as I remember all of our friends. Would they have been on this journey had they survived long enough? The question lingers in my mind as I look around the dense forest. Suddenly, there's a burst of light, nearly blinding me. Once I can see, I look over in the direction where it seemed to have come from. What the hell? I make my way over to Jerome's side.

"Jerome, wake up," I say urgently, shaking him to wake him.

"Ugh..." I can see him open his eyes in the dim light. "What, Mitch, should I take next watch now?"

"No... it's just that I saw a light from over there. Should we check it out?"

"Uh... sure," he said, groggy. He slowly stood up and began to walk towards where the light came from.

"Wait!" I whisper-shouted. "Should we wake up Ashley?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he replied. I make my way over to Ashley, who's curled up in a ball on the ground. You could barely hear her quiet breaths.

"Ashley, wake up," I say loudly, She doesn't stir. I poke her arm. "Ashley?" Still no response. "Dammit, Ashley!" I repeatedly jab her shoulder. _That _gets her attention.

"Hey - wha - what the hell was that for, Mitch?" she says, obviously irked that I woke her.

"I saw some light coming from over there. Jerome and I are gonna go check it out. You coming?"

"Um, sure..." she says, rising from her place on the ground.

"Follow me," I say. I begin walking to where the strange light had appeared, Jerome and Ashley hot on my heels. After about 20 meters into the close-knit trees, I trip over something on the ground. I let out a yelp and throw out my arms to catch myself.

"Holy shit, Mitch!" Jerome says, breaking the silence in the cold night air. "What was that?"

"I-I don't know! There's something over there that I tripped over!" I exclaim, confused. Could it be the source of the light? I turn around. It's pointless, though, since I can't really see in the darkness. Bending down and squinting, I realize there's a... case of some sort? How did that get there?

"What is it?" Ashley asked. I look up to see the looks of confusion on their faces.

"It's some sort of capsule. Maybe it has something in it?" As if on cue, the light flashes on again. I turn away, the light momentarily obscuring my vision. I hear Jerome swear as the light fills the forest. Then it fades away. When I was certain that I could look back at it without damaging my eyes, I turn my attention to it.

It was still the same old capsule. Except this time, it was... open? How?

"So the light just opens it? How does that work?" Jerome queries.

"That's weird," Ashley comments. "Maybe we should take it back to camp?"

"That sounds like a good idea," I reply. I gingerly pick it up with my hands. It doesn't seem that heavy, but it takes so much effort due to the fact we haven't found much food - except for earlier today. Or was it yesterday? Whatever. Trudging through the thick woods, we find where we had left the goodies I had the luck to stumble upon, along with the little supplies we have. We all sit in a circle, the capsule in the middle.

"Let's see if there's anything in it," Ashley says, picking it up. She digs into it, frowning when her hand hits something that isn't the box itself. "Hey, it looks like there's a piece of paper in here," she says, pulling out her discovery. Sure enough, it's a sheet of paper folded into a square. It seems somewhat faded and there are minimal tears in it.

"Is there any way we can read it?" I wonder. Jerome takes the box from Ashley and peers into it.

"Why would someone put a light switch?" he says, bewildered.

"What? You're joking," I scoff as I grab the capsule from him, looking for myself. Sure enough, there's a switch labeled "On/Off". "How the fuck did they even fit it in there?" I flick it on. A not-as-blinding light illuminates our faces and the greenery around us, casting creepy shadows around us. I pass the box to Ashley. "Do you think there's something on it?"

Jerome and I watch as Ashley unfolds the paper. Holding it under the light, she gasps. "There is writing on it! Maybe it's a note?"

"Well, read it," Jerome said teasingly. Ashley rolls her eyes, but with a smile on her face. She holds it under the light and begins to read.

"_What have I done?" _Ashley starts reading. "_How did a simple experiment evolve into something so virulent, so deadly - so that it could even wipe humanity off the face off the earth? I just took that plant specimen home to look for lifeforms on it, and then boom - next thing I know I'm going to class with a headache, nausea and rashes. Perhaps a mutation? That was where it all started."  
_

Something dawned on me. "Do you think they mean..."

"The plague? Bullshit," said Jerome bluntly. "How did a science experiment - and a student's, by the sound of the note - manage to kill 6.9 billion people?"

"Maybe it says later on," Ashley suggests. "I'll keep reading." She holds the note up to the light and continues.

"_I guess other students caught the virus too, but they seemed to ignore it. Then the summer holidays came. Which meant vacation. Kids going on planes to Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, various other parts of the world - and taking the virus with them. Somehow, it managed to evolve. It traveled the globe using ships, planes, animals - even blood-to-blood contact allowed it infect others. It had the world infected in a few days._

"So this would've been written a few years ago," Jerome concluded.

"Guess so," said Ashley, briefly looking up from the note. She then looks back down and went on with her reading.

"_Then there were its extraordinary abilities. It could withstand any temperature - how else did people in cold places like Canada and Russia as well as warm places on the equator like Maldives and Brazil fall ill with it? Then there was its exceptional ability to withstand drugs when it infected the first few humans, being not as dangerous. Eventually it became more resistant to the research doctors put into it to find a cure. It could even mix up its DNA, setting research efforts back as they tried to find the antidote."  
_

"No wonder it took them five years to get a cure!" I exclaim, interrupting Ashley. She glares at me. "Sorry," I say. She just shakes her head and continues reading.

"_Finally there were the symptoms. At first it wasn't as obvious - some coughing, a bit of nausea, a migraine that refused to go away - but over time the disease became more evident. Cysts, vomiting, paranoia - most people got sent into comas and total organ failure would be what sent them into the cold embrace of Death. And they got sent there quickly.  
_

_"It's been two years since this happened. I'm one of the people still suffering, while many got put out of theirs. This includes my own dear parents and my beloved sister. I don't know if I will survive, but if I do, I know that I do not deserve to, for killing so many innocent people. Why have I been spared? Why should I live, for I am the one to send us spiraling to our downfall? The one to end humanity's reign? The one who could, dare I say, wipe our civilization off the face of the earth, forever?" _

Ashley says the last few sentences in a voice that grows steadily quieter with each word. When she's done, we just sit in silence for a few minutes.

"So basically, some student ended up mutating a plant into some deadly virus, which killed most of the world's population?" Jerome said.

"I think you summed it up alright, Jerome," I reply, still puzzled. "Could this person still be alive?"

"I doubt it," said Ashley. "I mean, they're more likely to be among the 6.9 billion dead people than the 100 million alive ones. And that number is probably even smaller right now."

"Ashley's right," I said. "Plus, it's not like we're going to meet the person anyways. What are the odds?"

"Yeah," Jerome said, and Ashley nodded to show her agreement. I noticed it seemed a lot lighter than it had earlier, and you couldn't see the glow that the box cast around the forest. Looking up, I see that the sky is turning a somewhat reddish colour and you can see small beams on sunlight peeking through the leaves.

"Come on, guys. Let's pack up and go," I say. We begin gathering our tarp, rope, water, and food.

That's when we hear something crash through the bushes. Followed by a yelp.

**A/N I FINALLY UPDATED! Sorry this took so long, but I hope you guys think that the wait was worth it. Also, I need 3 OCs. Form:**

**Name:**

**Age: (preferably 16-19)**

**Appearance:**

**Personality:  
**

**Extra:**

**If I get more than 3 OCs I will do a random draw. On that note, review, fave, follow appreciated. It keeps me motivated to know people enjoy my work. I'm ItsMyIceCream428, and I will speak to ya soon, Ice Cream Cones!  
**

**~ItsMyIceCream428~**

**PS: Keep in mind that they will be living in the woods, so they're gonna be worn out, tired, not very strong, etc. Remember this if you submit an OC.**


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